Aircraft mistakes in films
It's not just aeroplane howlers that filmers are good at. I cringe every time I see a film where the goodie/baddie uncouples a train thats in motion and watches as the two portions slowly separate. Then there was a dreadfull seventies clunker about a train carrying a bucket of sunshine being hijacked through Europe. Yeah, as if.
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Being an avid watcher of Air Accident Investigation and other documentaries of that ilk, the one that always makes me cringe (and not due to the subject, which is absolutely horrific)....the one that covered the loss of JAL123.
The programme is very well made & the recreation of the last 30 minutes of the 747 is extremely realistic.....but...after the plane has gone down and the USAF are overflying in a C130 and told to return to base...the sound effects man got the wrong button, cos it sounds more like a Cessna 172....but its easy to make a mistake and it doesn't really impact the story...it just bugs that since they made such a superb job of the rest of the film, they let a simple sound effect error like that happen
The best, or at least one of the best, howlers to me was the Poldark oil tanker...and another was the Pirates of the Caribbean helicopter (the same helicopter appeared in Master & Commander too, amongst other sailing ship films & telly series).....a case of always look where the sun is when filming cos you get some really dodgy shadows sometimes
The programme is very well made & the recreation of the last 30 minutes of the 747 is extremely realistic.....but...after the plane has gone down and the USAF are overflying in a C130 and told to return to base...the sound effects man got the wrong button, cos it sounds more like a Cessna 172....but its easy to make a mistake and it doesn't really impact the story...it just bugs that since they made such a superb job of the rest of the film, they let a simple sound effect error like that happen
The best, or at least one of the best, howlers to me was the Poldark oil tanker...and another was the Pirates of the Caribbean helicopter (the same helicopter appeared in Master & Commander too, amongst other sailing ship films & telly series).....a case of always look where the sun is when filming cos you get some really dodgy shadows sometimes
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Mulholland Falls
Sitting in the back of a DC3, with standard pax door, removed.
Smoking, smoke rises gently directly upwards, no turbulent flow.
Holding a standard conversation, NO engine or wind noise.
Costs nothing to turn the wind machine on, and almost nothing a noise track.
glf
Smoking, smoke rises gently directly upwards, no turbulent flow.
Holding a standard conversation, NO engine or wind noise.
Costs nothing to turn the wind machine on, and almost nothing a noise track.
glf
All the "air accident investigation" (and similar) documentaries are full of howlers, and increasingly so.
Not only that but the style of rendition (with endless repeating scary bits, passengers screaming, and no continuity in an accident sequence) gets on my goat.
I wouldn't mind learning something from one of these without having to sit through the vomitous replays of the (melo)dramatic bits.
Last but not least: Not all flight crews look like dodgy used-car salesmen or pimps. A physical characteristic that must be common in C-grade actors.
Not only that but the style of rendition (with endless repeating scary bits, passengers screaming, and no continuity in an accident sequence) gets on my goat.
I wouldn't mind learning something from one of these without having to sit through the vomitous replays of the (melo)dramatic bits.
Last but not least: Not all flight crews look like dodgy used-car salesmen or pimps. A physical characteristic that must be common in C-grade actors.
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Saw another one the other night, in a Sky Yesterday doco.
A person had to be flown from Brazil to Germany (time was the late 1960s). Cue an Air France Caravelle coming to a halt and opening its front passenger door. A bit odd, I thought, but perhaps the character was flown from Brazil to Paris, then on to Germany. But no, next footage is of the character deplaning from what is very clearly a Lufthansa 707-just the aircraft I would have expected to see in the circumstances. Sheer carelessness/laziness.
A person had to be flown from Brazil to Germany (time was the late 1960s). Cue an Air France Caravelle coming to a halt and opening its front passenger door. A bit odd, I thought, but perhaps the character was flown from Brazil to Paris, then on to Germany. But no, next footage is of the character deplaning from what is very clearly a Lufthansa 707-just the aircraft I would have expected to see in the circumstances. Sheer carelessness/laziness.
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The 'Longest Day' in the inside the Horsa shot approaching Pagasus Bridge, there is no bulkhead between cockpit and troops. Pity really, as they used the original plans to build the Horsas they used for external shots. I believe they tried to get the CAA to allow them to fly these, but were turned down as the CAA decided the design was inherently dangerous!
If they used original plans for the Horsa the CAA probably had kittens when they saw that the material called for in the construction was Commercial Grade Plywood ie inferior quality to Marine grade let alone aircraft grade plywood. 
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Can someone remind me of the fairly recent film I saw when a family left the US and flew across the Atlantic on a Ryanair 737-200? Now I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but..........
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Leonardo de Caprio exiting a B707 through the toilet in 'Catch Me If You Can'.
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I just love this thread as I'm as guilty as the next nitpicker for shouting at the t.v. screen about film/t.v. makers who can't be bothered to try and get stuff right.
I might be regarded as even sadder being the owner and restorer of a 1942 'jeep'.
So many films, American and British will use the French built Hotchkis version when there are so many sad git enthusiasts like myself who would die to get their 'correct for the film' vehicle shown in a film. My wife threatened to stab me the next time I bring her attention to the fact that it's obviously a late 1960's jeep being driven by our hero as can be seen by the fact that it has the wrong wheels/hubs etc. I could go on, but I think I hear her coming up the stairs!!
p.s. what about Me 108's for 109's....
Jeff
I might be regarded as even sadder being the owner and restorer of a 1942 'jeep'.
So many films, American and British will use the French built Hotchkis version when there are so many sad git enthusiasts like myself who would die to get their 'correct for the film' vehicle shown in a film. My wife threatened to stab me the next time I bring her attention to the fact that it's obviously a late 1960's jeep being driven by our hero as can be seen by the fact that it has the wrong wheels/hubs etc. I could go on, but I think I hear her coming up the stairs!!
p.s. what about Me 108's for 109's....
Jeff
Not an aviation mistake in a film, but I've just watched a TV motoring program that had a phone-in quiz at the end.
Question, which is a famous bomber aircraft,
a/ Manchester,
b/ Lancaster,
c/ Doncaster.
Well as I'm a plane nut and not a car nut I recognise TWO Avro bombers and an experimental De havilland transport from that list.
Question, which is a famous bomber aircraft,
a/ Manchester,
b/ Lancaster,
c/ Doncaster.
Well as I'm a plane nut and not a car nut I recognise TWO Avro bombers and an experimental De havilland transport from that list.
